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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23903977">Zero O'Clock</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedcoffeeAsh/pseuds/icedcoffeeAsh'>icedcoffeeAsh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Self-Indulgent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:09:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,711</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23903977</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedcoffeeAsh/pseuds/icedcoffeeAsh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tenten had always been tired of the banality of her life until it became the very thing that held her together. Inspired by the orange poem.</p>
<p>Or, Tenten finds a new lens after losing her own.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hyuuga Neji &amp; Rock Lee &amp; Tenten</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Zero O'Clock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is really self-indulgent and low-key a character projection because I've been indoors too long and I'm paranoid about my vision again so here's Tenten going through vision loss (I didn't really have a disease in mind to be honest since most can be treated to an extent so lets just say she has optic nerve damage of some extent like maybe it causes her to have an inefficiency in taking in light or something but lets not look too deep into it or I might go insane with useless worrydbksf;</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tenten cursed. A lot. Naming almost every profanity she could think of—not that she had to try very hard since it all came out in a jumbled, mumbled mess. Still, she cursed every deity on the tip of her tongue for this disaster despite being an atheist.</p>
<p>It was when she stepped on it that it dawned on her; the ceramic bowl on the stained rug mocking her with its glittering light. Shattered. Her roommates had been oddly quiet.</p>
<p>Ever since they had found out about her developing blindness, their days had been muddled with an unknown countdown. Tenten had to sit back and watch as her friends became faceless and almost careless about in their actions as if her words had depleted them of any sense of competency. Still, no matter how idiotic they were being, they both doted on her whenever they managed to pull themselves together enough to come back home from wherever. It wasn’t the same and dinner became too much for the two empty chairs that sat next to her. </p>
<p>Tenten didn't leave much, the most movement she's gotten is as far as the bathroom. A time where she trained, practicing with tools and welcoming the drip of oil, all hazy and so far away. She longed to fix up a car. Make an insurance order, even, with all the paper work. But now she only had the four walls caging her in. A bathroom a mere few steps away. </p>
<p>Sometimes, when she stepped out there was a plate and two colored notes awaiting her. A bold green and a soft blue. It glowed lightly with different penmanships. They told her to make little choices. Be brave. Smile. But she held a heavy heart with no place to turn to but a frustrated acidic pit boiling underneath. Her steps felt loud and slow and while there was nothing physically wrong with her limbs—the movements tire her. </p>
<p>It was like her eyes.</p>
<p>Always sore and all the more painful. But, somehow her body never bothered her; no, it was her eyes. Tenten hated them. They were throbbing and burning all the time; the slightest movement to see was painful. Bringing, even, a ringing in her ears so bad she feels the need to claw at her ears. Not only that but, they were failing her. Are, still, giving up. Didn’t matter besides the fact that she already lost a significant amount of vision in her right eye. Her left eye only blurred beyond belief but all the more worse as she wanted to wipe at them, rub them vigorously and hard until she volunteered dark abstracts. It never cleared. She could barely make out any design; second-guessing if there was something there in the first place. Nothing. They were useless and she hates them but she hates how much more useless it would be to rely on glasses.</p>
<p>She felt most angry at the pressures on her eyes; the headaches were the brunt of it all.</p>
<p>Tenten sometimes liked to play a game with herself: She'd stare at lightbulbs and compare the sights of her eyes. It happened by accident once then again and again until she couldn't stop noticing how she was unable to focus on the shape of the lightbulb in her left eye. She could see it clearly in her right but it was also washed out unlike the vibrant pixel of her left eye's sight. Tenten found herself annoyed by colors but couldn't stop alternating the opening and closing of each eye.</p>
<p>Lee had caught her one time. Her game had escalated to where she'd grab his washi tape and place the blue shades around the apartment. The next morning she always forgot where they were placed and when she noticed its presence she would compare the sights of her eyes; her right, as always, made it appear more washed out. She hated the difference and Lee told her she could keep them. He was different too and she hated that too. His energy was like that of her right eye's vision: washed out. </p>
<p>Lee and Neji were both oddly subdued and the mornings felt too quiet. While it was never too loud in the mornings, they were all up at that time and sometimes it was only then when they could talk. Lee would keep a window open when he came back from his daily run and Neji liked to grumble as he did daily crossword puzzles. It had felt good, she realized too late. Sometimes the realization about them felt difficult; they were her normal. No one was them, just like the terrible sounds of chirping and an occasional barking. Peaceful and Contentment. Like the toasts that, when ready, makes everyone jump then laugh. Tenten always buttered it, Lee loved his peanut butter and jelly, and Neji, to the horror of the Lee and her, enjoyed it plain. She found herself missing the bickering but only wallowed in the sights of empty chairs, a cup of cold coffee, and a singular buttered bread. Cold</p>
<p>It was at lunchtime, two weeks ago, when Tenten found herself standing behind a hazy window that she had decided no, this development didn’t get to control her or her friends. She’s still alive. And no test results were going to change that—just her normal, she thought bitterly. But it had gone ahead and accomplished exactly that. She had tried to act as if nothing had changed but they didn’t play along. Tenten wanted their mornings and laughter back, she didn't like it when she played the game with herself; it made her feel worse. She wanted the slow nights studying or playing and moments with them. She wanted to breathe easily with them; she felt too heavy, too fast and hazy. Blurry.</p>
<p>So, like anyone who was stuck and tired of her friends walking around her on their tiptoes as if she were the shattered glass, Tenten formed a plan: Seduce her friends with pasteries until they cave and act normal; SEDPAS for short. It was… a work in progress. But Tenten held a lot of free time due to needing to take an extended vacation on her job and decidedly wanted a long-term plan. Also, it would keep her busy. And, she was, admittedly, not very creative unless it involved concepts for manuels and machines; so at least she had a plan.</p>
<p>Well, she <em>had</em> a plan. One, that was almost complete—Tenten could practically taste its success from only a few tasks away. But then, she had to go to the bathroom.</p>
<p>She was only gone for a moment—at most for almost ten minutes and it shouldn’t have been enough to fuck everything up. Tenten had only needed to pee, “I’ll be right back” she had told them, “Don’t do anything” she warned. But, of course, she should’ve known it wouldn’t be enough to make them think twice about their actions. And to give herself the benefit of the doubt, the bowl was the least of her concerns, she just didn’t want the batter to be ruined. And, she thought they had cared about that most too. So it wasn’t at the forefront of her mind to even consider making a threat if they were to mess around in the kitchen. She honestly, lest of everything, couldn’t have believed they would manage this. Tenten blamed her bladder.</p>
<p>It was most difficult. An error of sorts, maybe. But, nonetheless she demanded an explanation.</p>
<p>“It was… not what I expected to happen.”</p>
<p>“I didn't—I didn't think… You only said not eat the batter…”</p>
<p>Their words didn’t soften anything. Instead, probably, infuriating her if anything. She felt her ears go red. “What fool manges this!”</p>
<p>Then Tenten, despite cursing for the past ten minutes, wanted to scream. Her nails were painfully digging into her palms from how hard she’s clenching her fists. And then, and then, she laughed. </p>
<p>She laughed. And laughed. And laughed, until she snorted and laughed harder. And through her own laughter, she could feel Neji’s figure shaking and hear Lee’s familiar loud laugh. They laughed too. They all laughed together. It was a moment.</p>
<p>After a moment. A silence. And a few pauses. Neji demanded Lee to clean the ceramic vase. In turn, Lee made it into a game and Neji ended up cleaning. Tenten watched them with wonder but she couldn’t guessed how they managed to shatter it. A little later and the window was open, the same one as in the mornings before. Tenten could hear the neighbor’s dog barking and feel the breeze on her skin. Around her the chairs were still empty but the table was brimming with batter and bread. The kitchen made her so happy. Neji and Lee. It’s the same as before with a new understanding; her normal.</p>
<p>The kitchen held bread for the rest of the week and when it was out; on a sunday was when they’d bake. At dinner, Neji brought a gardening book and Lee’s eyes starred. He said it’d be fun. Tenten didn’t like the taste of the crops they planted but she enjoyed watching them grow and sometimes they let her water them instead. It felt nice. </p>
<p>At times, Tenten’s anger blew a fuse as frustration caught up to her. She found it annoying how hard it was to read her manuels or how difficult it was to finalize details on cars. Her lone right eye worked harder against the blurriness of her left. It’s exhausting. And sometimes she was drained from the extra concentration that was required of her. They were forced to remind her:</p>
<p>“Your loss of vision does not mean you stop living your life. Accomadations aren’t bad so don’t complain.”</p>
<p>“You might need to change the way you do things, but the enjoyment and passion will always be there. To persevere is to live; as to youth!“</p>
<p>Tenten loved her home. She loved her friends more. They were loud and themselves and didn’t hold themselves back in telling her to shut up but it also didn’t stop her from smacking them. She’s glad they’re around.</p>
<p>And again. Days and weeks pass, there is no hurry. This is normal; it will pass.</p>
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